1st wedding! Light modifier question...

Hi,

I'm excited to shoot my first wedding next July!

I'm curious to know if most of you use umbrella's with your off-camera flash, or if you use a softbox.

I'm most likely going to use a collapsible umbrella, but I also own a Westcott Asymetric softbox, designed by Bruce Dorn.

Here it is: http://****/gTpbiy

It's great for control, for one or two people, and I've used it quite a bit for portraits with great results. Just not sure if it's going to work well because it's bulky to carry. I would attach it to a monopod and have an assistant hand hold.

So, what say you?

Umbrella or soft box?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

I've never really found the portability and ease of set-up/take-down for flash soft boxes to be acceptable (at least not for me and how I pack and work). Especially not compared to umbrellas.

I use a 22" white shoot-through, 22" reflective silver, and a folding 36" that Ziser markets. They all do a pretty good job but the white 22" is my favorite. It's very light and portable, cheap (I picked it up used off eBay for $12), and for all but large groups it seems to do just as good a job as the 36".

I use an Apollo 28" soft box. Almost as fast as an umbrella and catches less wind.

Thanks!

I like both suggestions!

I'm familiar with David Ziser and his collapsible "Zumbrella", and I will most likely order one or two.

The softbox outside in wind sure does make good sense to!

The larger lastolite looks good.

Thank you!!

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=646469

For a first wedding I think you'll have other things to worry about, like the pressure and speed of the day. Make sure you have an assistant who can at least help with gear, and maybe help with off camera flash. Only do OCF if you know it back to front, because on a wedding day the pressure makes everything more difficult.

I used softboxes for a long time, but eventually it just became a lot quicker and easier to carry a big, white shoot-through umbrella, which gets the job done about as well. If I had to shoot in a place where spill was a problem, I would still bring a softbox, though nowadays the softlighter II is my first choice 99% of the time since it's a best-of-both-worlds solution for me.

I have carted OCF gear around in my car for many of my weddings and I am yet to actually have the oppotunity to use it.

I have found that most , if not all of my weddings, time is the biggest issue I face. Everything is so fast paced ..... thinking and decision making , coping with time management plans (that dont go to plan ) all contribute to what you can achieve on the day.

If you get the chance to use it on the day ...that is great. Just have a secondary plan in case things dont run quite so smoothly.
You will learn a great deal from your 1st wedding.
Good luck , and let us know how you get on .

Thanks! Yes, I'm bringing an assistant who has shot many weddings and he's very experienced. I've been studying David Ziser's books and watching all the videos on Kelby training for weddings. I'm a huge fan of Cliff Mautner's wedding photography to.

I'll be as prepared as I possibly can. I always jump into knew endeavors with two feet. So far, I'm planning to use OCF for candid's, and I'll use my Alien Bees for large group shots.

For the quick stuff, I'll use on camera flash and bounce it off walls, even a groomsman's white shirt, if I'm in a pinch! hehe!

I'm looking to try to assist in at least one wedding before I shoot one, to get a feel for the pace. I'm confident I can do it, I just don't want anything to go wrong.

Thanks everyone!

I do not know if I understand it correctly, but I sugest you to make maximum use of ambient light
I see that you have few very light lenses so make good use of them and leave softboxes alone

puggle wrote in post #11415742
Thanks! Yes, I'm bringing an assistant who has shot many weddings and he's very experienced. I've been studying David Ziser's books and watching all the videos on Kelby training for weddings. I'm a huge fan of Cliff Mautner's wedding photography to.

I'll be as prepared as I possibly can. I always jump into knew endeavors with two feet. So far, I'm planning to use OCF for candid's, and I'll use my Alien Bees for large group shots.

For the quick stuff, I'll use on camera flash and bounce it off walls, even a groomsman's white shirt, if I'm in a pinch! hehe!

I'm looking to try to assist in at least one wedding before I shoot one, to get a feel for the pace. I'm confident I can do it, I just don't want anything to go wrong.

Thanks everyone!

Wow, it sounds like you're making this way more complex than you need to. OCF for candids? Just do the on-cam bounce flash thing. ESPECIALLY for your first wedding. You'll be lucky if you even remember to properly change ISO every time. Keep it simple and add to it as you get comfortable. You say you don't want anything to go wrong, but adding this much complexity to your first wedding is a GREAT way to have things go wrong.

I LOVE using flash and good lighting techniques, but even still, there are many many many times where it's just not practical to use due to time and schedule.

Listen to Lloyd; he is Yoda.

Peacefield wrote in post #11410005
I've never really found the portability and ease of set-up/take-down for flash soft boxes to be acceptable (at least not for me and how I pack and work). Especially not compared to umbrellas.

I use a 22" white shoot-through, 22" reflective silver, and a folding 36" that Ziser markets. They all do a pretty good job but the white 22" is my favorite. It's very light and portable, cheap (I picked it up used off eBay for $12), and for all but large groups it seems to do just as good a job as the 36".

Take a look at the Norman softboxes. They make three - 22x22 inch, 36x36 inch and 48x48 inch. They literally open and close like an umbrella - about 1 second. Instead of a click lock device (like an umbrella) there is a set screw that takes another 2 seconds to lock. No messing with inserting/removing rods, bending or breaking parts, etc. I think the Norman uses the same ring as Photogenic so adaptors should be easy to find. Real nice system. I have no complaints with mine.

picturecrazy wrote in post #11416724
Wow, it sounds like you're making this way more complex than you need to. OCF for candids? Just do the on-cam bounce flash thing. ESPECIALLY for your first wedding. You'll be lucky if you even remember to properly change ISO every time. Keep it simple and add to it as you get comfortable. You say you don't want anything to go wrong, but adding this much complexity to your first wedding is a GREAT way to have things go wrong.

I LOVE using flash and good lighting techniques, but even still, there are many many many times where it's just not practical to use due to time and schedule.

Yes, this.

Picturecrazy is right on. Your #1 priority is to capture good pictures of everything that happens. As you gain experience, you will see opportunities in you work where different lighting would enhance the results. Controlling ambient light so it's not too dark will be your biggest challenge with OCF but bumping the ISO, bounce flash and proper shutter speeds can give you great results. Adding fill flash in Lightroom will add to the results as well. When starting out, we all think the next piece of gear will make our pictures better. With experience, you find less is more and look for ways to master the equipment you have.

I completely agree with Lloyd! Don't make things so complex on your first wedding, the day will be super fast paced and it will be unreal for you to think about all the OCF shots and settings - you may miss some important stuff while you set up.